Diabetes

I am a  Type 2 diabetic.  I was diagnosed 15+ years ago during Joseph's pregnancy and I never got normal afterwards, so yes, I've been diabetic for a long time.  It's a pain.

But.

But...

I have thought many times that Joseph's pregnancy may have saved my life and/or limbs and/or kidneys and/or sight.

He is our 4th child.  Kids #1 and #2 were girls.  Isaac, Kid #3, obviously a boy.  At least one person said to us after he was born, "Well, you have your boy."

And Kevin's response to that was, "Well, we have A boy."

We weren't done.  (Obviously.)

So yes, at age 34 I was pregnant with another little guy and they did that glucose tolerance test and I failed and I was diabetic.

I have always been tall and thin. Yes, I have a fierce genetic predisposition for diabetes (lots of people in my maternal line) but the fact that I didn't LOOK diabetic and I was still in my 30's means that I doubt anyone would have checked me for a problem in a very long time.

Diabetes is a progressive disease.  It can take many years, even decades, for the damage of consistent high blood sugar to mess up eyes and limbs and kidneys.

If I was now 50 and had had uncontrolled blood sugars for 15 years, only to find out NOW that I am diabetic, I could be quite the mess.

Of course, maybe it would have been discovered some other way. But then again, maybe not.  I'm reading a great book called Blood Sugar 101, and the author claims that fasting blood sugar is often the last one to get bad. So even if I had been checked for fasting bg, the medical establishment might not have caught it.

So I am thankful for Kid #4, Boy #2!

Of course.

I'm thankful for all of them. They are all gifts from Heaven.

Regarding diabetes, I will freely admit I've gotten a bit lazy in the last year.  I'm working on being more careful about what I eat.  I'm working on exercising more.  My last A1c was 6.1 and I really would like to see it in the high 5's.  Most docs are perfectly happy with 6.1.  My doc is.  But I know from my reading that even that is high enough to potentially cause damage and I was SO young when I was diagnosed.  I have a lot more living, I hope.

I've been exceptionally busy with sick kids (they are mostly better now, and we've beaten back pink eye) and yesterday I ate a bunch of really bad stuff because I was hungry and there were left over white potatoes.

You might not think white potatoes would be bad but yeah, they are.  Like little carbohydrate bombs.

2+ hours after eating them, my blood sugar was 192. Ouch.  Usually I'm below 120 by that point and I haven't been that high in a year or so.

At least.

No more glumps of white potato, Laraba!

In the midst of annoyance with this long term disease, I am so thankful for blood sugar meters and metformin and enough money to buy what I need so I can eat low carb.

So yes, in many ways, I feel gratitude.  I can manage my diabetes because I know about my diabetes.  Praise God for that.